Pennsylvania now collects 6 percent (or 8 percent in Philadelphia and 7 percent in Allegheny County) sales tax from online retailers that have a physical presence, or “nexis” in the state. Retail behemoth Amazon, which has several warehouses in Pennsylvania, remits the tax.

In addition to the new revenue, Strauss’ research indicates that the state would gain about 3,000 new jobs and boost wages by about $100 million by levying sales tax against online retailers.

That’s where Washington comes in. The U.S. Senate passed the “Marketplace Fairness Act,” as it’s known in legislative speak, this month. It’s now before the famously taxphobic U.S. House, where it faces an uncertain fate.

U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, whose 11th District seat includes parts of the midstate, is among the House cosponsors of the bill.

Barletta, the onetime mayor of Hazleton in Luzerne County “has seen first-hand the way local businesses have suffered” from the competition of non-sales tax paying online retailers, spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.

“These businesses have paid local property taxes and someone comes in and peruses an item, only to leave and buy it online where they don’t have to pay sales tax,” Murtaugh said. “It didn’t seem equitable.”

Should the House ever bring the tax bill to a vote, Pennsylvania stands to gain about $200 million a year in new tax revenue, said Elizabeth Brassell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Revenue.

But that’s not the only step that would have to be taken for Pennsylvania to cut itself in on the online action: state lawmakers would have to pass, and Gov. Tom Corbett would have to sign opt-in legislation, Brassell added.

Even though the bill is a long way from the goal line, some state governments are already factoring the money into their budgets, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.

Officials in Maryland and Virginia, for instance, included revenue from the yet-to-be approved bill in transportation funding legislation in those states. If Congress fails to act, Marylanders and Virginians get slapped with a gas tax hike instead, the Journal reported.

Even though the Corbettistas counted on $175 million in yet-to-be realized savings from pension reform to help balance their books in the budget year that starts July 1, the administration did not do the same with the federal online sales tax bill.

“It’s not our policy to bank on potentially passed legislation, Jay Pagni, a spokesman for Budget Secretary Charles Zogby said this week.

And as is the case with any good policy debate, the wonks are split on the issue.

Supporters argue that the tax allows Mom-and-Pop shops to compete with online retailers who don’t have the same kind of overhead worries as traditional retailers. They also defuse tax hike rhetoric, arguing that it’s revenue the state would have been capturing anyway.

“We’ve been supportive of the idea of a level-playing field between bricks-and-mortar stores and online retailers,” said Chris Lillienthal, a spokesman for the left-leaning Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center in Harrisburg.

Not so fast, says Nathan Benefield, a policy analyst for the Commonealth Foundation, which is literally down the block, but at the far end of the political spectrum, from Lillienthal’s office.

Dumping the requirement that online retailers have a physical presence in the state could mean they end up being held liable for other state business tax levies, such as the corporate net income tax.

If online companies are to be held liable for collecting sales taxes, Benefield argues it’s better for them to pay the sales tax in the state where they’re based (6 percent in Pennsylvania), than having them figure out the rates for different jurisdictions.

“That way, all a business has to worry about is its own location,” he said.

So shop while you can, Pennsylvanians, you might not skate on paying sales tax that much longer.

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